How to automate my return policy?

Return Magic has a very powerful rules engine that will allow you to fully automate most cases of your return policy. You can find it in your Settings, under Policies > Rules. Here is an example of what you should see (or something similar...):

The default rule that you see here is a rule that applies to all your customers - like the "base" of your return policy. We'll then add rules on top of that (for international customers for example - see below) to segment your customers or create exceptions. It might be a little tough to get the hang of it at first, but if you pay attention to the guidelines and different settings, the rules engine can become a really powerful tool for your business!

You can set up one or multiple return rules that are custom and flexible to your store. Follow the guidelines in the app to set up your first policy.

Let's do an example together!

Let's say you do not want to send prepaid labels to international customers (only). We will do here an example for US-based stores, but this is applicable for all countries (just replace "United States" by your country).

Let's head to your Settings, under Policies > Rules.

Step 1: Creating a rule

First, click on "Create a new rule".

Here, it is worth explaining the purpose of the default rule again. The default rule is a rule that applies to all your customers - like the "base" of your return policy. We'll then add rules on top of that (for international customers in this example) to segment your customers or create exceptions. International customers will have their own rule, and domestic orders will be covered by the default rule.

After clicking on "Create a new rule", you will see the following:

Those are pre-made templates you can choose from. You can also start from scratch with an empty rule. For the purposes of this example, we'll select the "Country" template.

You can set a rule name, and then set the condition to "Country is not United States" (for merchants in other countries: replace "United States" by your own).

Note that the conditions within a rule are "added" together. This means that for a return to fall under a rule, it needs to meet all conditions set. This is why you should never create rules with more than one country or return reasons, because no return will have multiple countries associated to it (and similarly with the return reasons - there can be more than one return reason associated to a return, but only if your customer is returning multiple items).

Here, it is also important to discuss priorities. Priorities come into play when a return could fall under multiple rules. In that case, the rule with the highest priority will apply first. 1 is the highest priority, and 10 the lowest.

Click on "Save Rule".

Great! We now have a rule. Without any return options within a rule, all orders or return requests falling under that rule will be prevented from completing the return request.

Step 2: Creating a return method

In this example, we do want to allow international customers to return, so we'll start adding return options. Click on "Add an option to this rule" at the bottom of the rule.

In this example, we will offer free returns for international customers, but with no prepaid label provided. We'll need to add the three different return options to the rule, so repeat those steps 2 more times. Here is how to set this first one up:

As you can see, you can also set a return fee, or select a custom logistic. The custom logistic is good if you want to create your own return method, like an in-store return for example, or a special way of sending back products to you.

Note that you have access to a lot of different advanced settings:

Return window: this starts when the customer places their order on your store

Inventory control: choose to return to inventory when the return is refunded